My
brother Howard Wooldridge served as a decorated police officer and
detective in Lansing, Michigan for 18 years. During that time, he
collared killers, drunk drivers, child molesters, rapists, wife beaters
and drug dealers. What he learned launched him on a crusade to stop
the federal government’s useless 35 year “War on Drugs.”

My
brother stands so passionate about his cause that he rode his horse
Misty 3,300 miles coast to coast across America in 2005. To gain attention,
his sweat-stained T-shirt read, “Cops Say Legalize Drugs: Ask Me Why.”

The
drug war costs American taxpayers $70 billion a year and over the
past 35 years, costs approach a trillion dollars. Result? Drugs remain
CHEAPER and MORE available than 35 years ago.

“The
war on drugs,” said Howard Wooldridge, one of the founders of Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition at www.leap.cc.
“How is that working for us in America? Is it reducing crime? Is it
reducing rates of death and disease? Is it effective in keeping drugs
and drug dealers away from our children? Is it making America safer
and more prosperous? As my profession chases drugs, what are we missing?
These are important questions as this prohibition approach costs us
taxpayers some 70 billion dollars this year.”

Wooldridge
said, “As a police officer, I fought on the side of the ‘good guys’
for 18 years in the “War on Drugs,” giving me ample actual experience
in the trenches. After much time, consternation and out-and-out frustration
in not achieving a single, stated goal in the long term, I came to
the conclusion that we must be doing something wrong. It seemed no
matter how many dealers we took off the streets, new ones immediately
popped up to take their places. The prices for drugs kept falling,
indicating an oversupply. The purity became better; heroin increased
from 3.6 percent to near 50 percent purity between 1980 and 2007.
The prison population kept increasing until over 70 percent of all
inmates are there on some drug-related charge. The only thing we have
to show for this terrible policy is that today after 36 years and
a trillion tax dollars spent, illegal drugs are cheaper, stronger
and very easy for our kids to buy.”

In
those 18 years, I listened to my brother Howard’s frustrations each
time we sat down for dinner. He bemoaned the senselessness of the
drug war. The people within the department now work it to keep their
jobs and nothing else. The “War on Drugs” exists to exist.

“Why
has my profession been unable to make a dent?” Howard Wooldridge asked.
“It has not been for lack of trying. Thousands of police officers
have been shot and hundreds killed. We have arrested 36 million Americans
for drug possession, use or sale. First, understand that drug dealers
accept as a condition of employment--death and long prison terms.
We know there is an inexhaustible number of people who will risk death
to make huge profits that prohibition generates. A second major reason
is that when someone buys an illegal drug from a dealer, nobody calls
911 to report the ‘crime.’ It is very difficult for us to catch suspects
when the phone does not ring. Neither the buyers nor the sellers see
themselves as ‘victims.’

“Drug
gangs have spread like the plague out of the large cities and into
medium and even small cities. Young teens join gangs to make ‘easy,’
big money selling drugs. Fifteen year olds are shot and killed every
week because drug prohibition gives them this job option. Many Hispanic
members are the first generation of immigrants who don’t want to work
hard like their parents. The role model in the barrio is the rich
drug dealer, not the hard-working parent. A policy which many say
is to protect kids actually causes hundreds of deaths a year and tens
of thousands of destroyed young lives.”

For
any curious Americans, MS-13 gangs from El Salvador, now numbering
15,000 members, operate in 33 states according to a recent Newsweek
report. They recruit our kids with easy money. Once in the gang, their
lives stand at risk.

“On
our borders customs officers spend huge amounts of time looking for
smuggled drugs which allows them less time for catching the millions
who cross illegally,” Howard Wooldridge said. “The Coast Guard is
focused on drugs and not the ships which bring over many hundreds
of illegals in ships. In the century of 9/11 we should be focusing
on threats to the nation and instead we are heavily engaged in a nearly
four decade, failed policy of drug prohibition.

“The
unintended consequences of this terrible war are needlessly destroying
the lives of generations of America's youth. How many people do you
know who have used an illegal drug, then put the drugs behind them
and gone on to lead productive lives? US presidents, many members
of our legislative bodies, tens of thousands of police officers have
done exactly that. With imprisonment, those possibilities are eliminated.
You can get over an addiction, but you will never get over a conviction.

Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts!

Enter Your E-Mail Address:

“Now
envision a world where all drugs sell in state-regulated stores, not
on street corners by teens which gets them killed. Imagine a world
where the federal police focus on securing our borders from armed
and unarmed invasion. Envision a world where terrorists don’t buy
weapons from money made selling drugs. Imagine a world where felony
crime drops over 50 percent and local police focus on drunk drivers,
child predators and terrorists. Envision a world where if one day
you or a loved one has a drug problem, you see a doctor not a judge.
America can have this world, if it repeals its laws of the New Prohibition.”

A
republican form of government is not a spectator sport. It means
you must jump in, roll up you sleeves and take personal and collective
action. Of course, you could let a dictator take over and do everything
for you, but that path would give you Cuba, China, North Korea
and other unsavory examples.

To
stop Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid from giving an amnesty, take
action. Call for a full 10 year moratorium.

1,
America cannot support another 100 million people added to our
country in 34 years, i.e., water crisis, resource depletion, air
pollution, gridlock, loss of quality of life, etc. 2, America cannot support lawbreakers being given citizenship.
3, America must maintain our English language. 4, America wants only legal immigrants who play by the
rules and speak English. 5, America's working poor deserve a chance at jobs taken
by illegals 6, America already has too many people and I support a
10 year moratorium on all immigration. 7, Americans must maintain our schools for our children.
8, We can no longer tolerate 350,000 birthright citizens
(anchor babies) annually that subtract from our own citizens.
9, Attrition through enforcement by stopping their ability
to wire money home, obtain rental housing and jobs. 10, An amnesty failed in 1986, and it will only be worse
today. We're being displaced out of our jobs and out of our own
country. Call with relentless and never-give-up passion.

To
stop illegal aliens in your community, you may follow the course
of action by Mayor Louis Barletta of Hazelton, PA. He offers a
bomb proof ordinance that takes business licenses away from those
who hire illegals. He legally halts landlords from renting to
illegals. Without work and without housing, illegals cannot stay
in your community. Check out his web site for instructions: SmallTownDefenders.com

Wooldridge
presents a 45 minute program to colleges, high schools, civic
clubs, church groups and political clubs across America titled:
“COMING POPULATION CRISIS IN AMERICA: WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.”
Go to his website for further information on booking the program.
www.frostywooldridge.com

Frosty
Wooldridge possesses a unique view of the world, cultures and families
in that he has bicycled around the globe 100,000 miles, on six continents
and six times across the United States in the past 30 years. His published
books include: "HANDBOOK FOR TOURING BICYCLISTS" ; “STRIKE THREE! TAKE
YOUR BASE”; “IMMIGRATION’S UNARMED INVASION: DEADLY CONSEQUENCES”; “MOTORCYCLE
ADVENTURE TO ALASKA: INTO THE WIND—A TEEN NOVEL”; “BICYCLING AROUND THE
WORLD: TIRE TRACKS FOR YOUR IMAGINATION”; “AN EXTREME ENCOUNTER: ANTARCTIA.”
His next book: “TILTING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY INTO A SWAMP.” He lives
in Denver, Colorado.

For
any curious Americans, MS-13 gangs from El Salvador, now numbering 15,000
members, operate in 33 states according to a recent Newsweek report. They
recruit our kids with easy money. Once in the gang, their lives stand
at risk.